On my way home from Atlantic City last weekend, I was determined to stop at a cafe for a delicous breakfast of eggs benedict. On the way there on Saturday afternoon, I passed countless places to stop and envisioned the yumminess I'd find at one of them the following morning. My plans all changed though as the GPS took me home a different way than it had taken me there on Saturday; I ended up coming home on the Atlantic City Expressway, which led me to the New Jersey Turnpike. What did this mean for me? All highway miles, with no cute cafes along the way. The travel plazas could only offer Starbucks, Burger King, McDonalds and the like. This was not gonna do.
I decided to veer off my route near Havre de Grace with no real destination in mind; I just knew I was hungry. I ended up going about 10 miles off the Turnpike and just scanning the restaurants I passed. Hmmm, what looks good today? I decided on a small little Italian pizza/pasta/panini joint called Nonnie's. From their rather extensive menu, I chose their Bugsy panini. They threw steak, shrimp, American cheese, raw onions and Old Bay together for a tasty filling sandwiched between 2 seasoned piecies of heavy-duty bread. Smashed it all up in a panini pressed and BAM --- lunch was served. I could only eat about half the sandwich, so the other half came home and was dinner later that night. It reheated pretty well in the toaster oven, and I was a satisfied customer of Nonnie's.
It's been awhile since I've posted a new recipe, so here's a tasty one. I purchased a copy of Taste of Home's Light & Tasty Annual Recipes 2005 from eBay for some ridiculously low price and this is the first recipe Buppy and I tried from it. I'm happy to say it's definitely a winner in our opinion. The light & tasty part of it --- what a perk!
Onion Beef Stroganoff
Adapted from the Taste of Home's Light & Tasty Annual Recipes 2005 Cookbook
Courtesy of Beth Bries, Farley, IA
1 Tbsp. cornstarch
1 envelope onion soup mix [they recommend onion mushroom, plain onion was what we had on hand]
1/4 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. pepper
1 c. fat free evaporated milk [I meant to use fat free, but Buppy accidentally bought the regular full fat kind; next time it'll be fat free]
1 lb. boneless beef chuck steak, cut into thin strips [original recipe called for sirloin, we chose to use chuck]
2 tsp. canola oil
1/2 medium onion, sliced and separated into rings
1/2 tsp. minced garlic [we use from the jar, so that's equivalent to 1 garlic clove]
1 1/2 c. sliced fresh mushrooms
Hot cooked noodles
[Have a few tablespoons of milk on hand to thin this out if it becomes too thick.]
In a saucepan, combine the first 4 ingredients. Gradually stir in the milk until blended. Bring to a boil; cook and stir 2 minutes or until thickened. Remove from the heat; keep warm.
In a nonstick skillet, brown beef in oil. Add onion and garlic; cook and stir for 2 minutes. Add mushrooms; cook a few minutes longer until mushrooms are tender. Reduce heat to low; stir in reserved sauce. Cook and stir for 3-5 minutes on low until heated through. If the sauce appears too thick, add some of the milk on hand 1 Tbsp. at a time until it reaches the desired consistency. Serve over noodles.
In reality, the kids and Buppy had it over noodles. I opted for an English muffin as my base. I'm a freak like that. It just sounded like a good combo and I was right ---- I enjoyed my way and the rest of the family enjoy theirs. Buppy took the leftovers to work with him and said they reheated well too. Enjoy!
And what, you might be asking yourself, did Buppy & Bugaboo rock this time around? The budget goal for grocery shopping I set for us at the beginning of the month. With no sacrificing, and even with throwing a birthday party for the littlest tike today [our family of 4 plus 7 guests], we still only spent $179.35 on groceries during the month of February. Yup, we came in $20.65 under my goal of spending no more than $200.There are definitely several factors that played a part here, I must say. I paid attention to sales, which I usually do anyway. It also helps that we have so much meat and seafood in the freezer that we've accumulated when stuff was on sale, plus the quarter cow we purchased. We used items from the pantry and I created meals using mostly ingredients we already had on hand. So there we have it. We rocked it. I'm proud of us. End of story. I'm hoping to stay closer to this amount from now on, since I know it's completely possible.
Sometimes I'm just not good at math. I think it has to do with my attention span and how sometimes, I just don't care. Case in point: I had to rework my commission sidebar because it was slightly jacked. Since I actually received my first commission on a paycheck in December [November's commission], I'm actually making it a 13 month attempt at savings. This meant I had to add to the total I wanted to save. Which affected my percentage saved so far. That, and I received January's commission on my paycheck on Monday, which meant I had to update anyway. So there we have it. I think I'm writing this more for myself in the future than for anyone out there reading it. Just so that when I'm having a blond moment again, I can pull this up and have an "ahhhh" moment. On the up side --- I'm almost a quarter of the way to my goal and slightly ahead of schedule. Sweet.
Last week went relatively smoothly with our menu plan and I'm happy to say that not only did Buppy make dinner 3 nights in a row for us, they were delicious! The onion beef stroganoff was my favorite until I tried the fish on Friday night. Since the onion beef stroganoff came from my Light & Tasty cookbook, it definitely wins out health-wise. But as for taste? They were both snazzy! I'll have to blog about the recipes when I have more time and energy. For now, here's what we have planned for this week; I'm pretty lucky that things will be light as we have a busy weekend ahead of us.
Monday: Leftovers I brought from Carmine's in Atlantic City [prime rib, mashed potatoes & asparagus]
Tuesday: Parmigiano & herb chicken breast tenders, scalloped potatoes [from a box, I'm a cheater here]
Wednesday: I think I'll have to stay at the hotel, so dinner will be something the restaurant cooks up for me most likely
Thursday: [Bugaboo home alone, Buppy at work] Breakfast for dinner
Friday: Tuna melts, steamed veggies
Saturday: We'll be attending a bull & oyster roast sans kidlets; they'll probably get chicken nuggets or mac 'n cheese
Sunday: Birthday party for the 3 yr. old and I haven't decided if I'm cooking yet; we'll probably order pizzas since we'll be out so late the night before
As an update, we're doing really well on our grocery budget goal to stay below $200. We only have 1 week left and we're well under $100 right now. There are some things that we need to get [sugar, olives, butter], but it's definitely lookin' good!
I feel like I've been super busy lately, but in a good way. Work is going well for the most part amidst the construction and trying to get into a solid groove with the new F&B director. This week will, I'm sure, prove to be the same as I have several large and important functions that will require my presence; I'm already planning on staying overnight on Wednesday to make sure that Thursday morning goes off sans glitches. I don't see this being overly difficulty, but it'll require high attention to detail Wednesday night, something my banquet set up person is not known for.
This weekend seemed to fly by. Buppy left for work early Saturday morning and I left for Atlantic City around 12pm. While originally planning to visit my good friend from college [who recently became a mommy] up in CT, plans changed when she said she had other friends flying in from Wisco. Not wanting to overwhelm the poor girl, I changed things up and decided to visit a different friend who lives in Jersey. While kicking around a place that would be convenient for both of us [so one person wouldn't have to drive all the way to see the other], said friend suggested dinner in Atlantic City --- at Carmine's. I never realized that Atlantic City is like our East Coast version of Vegas, but I was definitely up for the road trip.
If you've never dined at a Carmine's, you probably won't understand how majestic that name is. My one sensational experience at Carmine's took place in 2007 when I visited NYC for the first time; everything is served family style and feeds 4-5 people. While I don't consider myself a fan of anchovies, the subtle hint of flavor in their Caesar salad is perfect. And the croutons that top this salad? Best ever. I've had the same salad twice now, and the same entree. Why change perfection? Their prime rib chop [Saturday special, lucky me!] is awe-inspiring - medium rare, moist & tender. The meal last night in AC also came with roasted asparagus, mashed potatoes, spinach, portabello mushroom slices and a sauce [similar to a gravy] that was dynamite and compliment everything extremely well. Since my friend was flying to Wisco today, he was kind enough to let me bring the leftovers home; there are at least 4 more meals worth of food, and I know Buppy will love it. Perhaps it won't be quite as good as last night [fresh, obviously], but I know it's still gonna be damn good!
After dinner, we wandered the boardwalk, sampled some cocktails and enjoyed relaxing with good conversation. After not having seen this friend for over 2 years, it was a wonderful night of playing catch up.
So what's next? Busy work week coming up, then the fire dept. fundraiser Bull & Oyster roast on Saturday. Sunday we're hosting Buppy's family as the littlest tike in the house turns 3. We might have to order pizza if I'm hungover and not into cooking; we'll play that one by ear. Four day work week after that as my birthday falls on that Friday and it's a paid holiday at my hotel. Sweet! We're hosting an appetizer party Friday night and then plan to venture down to Bmore and hit up some strip clubs on Saturday night. Sunday, I'll rest. Another full work week and then I'm finally heading up to see my old college roomy in CT; I can't wait to meet her little one! We're going to hit up New Haven's St. Patty's day parade that weekend, which I hear is a rousing good time. Whew --- I can't wait!
Yes, I realize that today is Tuesday the 16th already and I'm just now posting my weekly menu plan, but so goes my week. Let's get to it:
Monday: [Bugaboo home alone, Buppy at work] Scrambled eggs with celery, broccoli, mushrooms, green onion, ham & cheese served atop a toasted English muffin [this was so good!]
Tuesday: [Bugaboo home alone, Buppy at work] Leftover country scalloped potatoes with ham. I made this last week, but honestly, it's not worth posting about or making again. I'm not keeping the recipe any longer. Boo.
Wednesday: Onion beef stroganoff [new Light & Tasty recipe, I'll post if it's good] over pasta; steamed broccoli on the side
Thursday: Crustless pizza quiche [we didn't get around to this one last week, so we're shooting for it this week]
Friday: Catfish [blackened perhaps?], steamed carrots and some sweet potato dish. We still have the one laying around from Thanksgiving, and it still appears good. Ugh. Why is it so hard to use up one freakin' sweet potato? On another note, I'm not Catholic, but since Buppy is and he's not supposed to eat meat on Fridays during Lent, I'm trying to work that into our menu plan.
Saturday & Sunday: [Bugaboo home alone, Buppy at work both nights] I might head up to CT to visit a fantastic friend of mine this weekend, so no major plans for my dinners alone. If plans fall through and I'm home alone, I'm sure I'll end up with breakfast for dinner, tuna or something else at home. We have a lot of meat in our freezer to choose from, so my inner carnivore will definitely stay satisfied!
As for the baked chicken teriyaki we tried last week from allrecipes --- I didn't like it. It was way too sweet for my tastes. We didn't baked it as the recipe said to but used it in a stir fry instead; maybe this had something to do with it, but I was so not a fan. Won't use that one again, even though it had 4.5 stars and 1,885 reviews.
I seem to have had more upsets lately than usual when trying new recipes. They sound good on paper and the ingredients are things I like, but somehow things go wrong when put together. We're trying 2 new recipes this week [stroganoff & the pizza quiche], so wish me luck on my upcoming endeavors.
I admit it, most of my recipe that I picked up while in college are things I've never actually made until now. And I feel really bad, because at that point in my life, I didn't really care where I got the recipe. I just copied it onto the computer and saved it to try at some future date. I have no idea where most of them came from, but now that's neither here nor there. I have yummy recipes and you can, too. Because nice girls share.
This is a recipe I actually have made once or twice, and I know for a fact that Buppy has made it for himself and the kids once (before we were cohabiting). I think they liked it; I know he did, but I'm not 100% sure about the kiddos. Who cares though, since their tastes change quicker than my undies. Is that sharing too much? Probably. Back to my point --- this recipe uses pantry ingredients, is quick to throw together, and you can pretty much forget it once you stick it in the oven. Unless you're like me and have an oven that bakes unevenly. Then you have to think about it again halfway through the baking process so one side doesn't over bake while the other doesn't fully bake. Take my advice and set a timer! What a pain. Ah, story of my life: the uneven-baking oven. Seriously.
Baked Chicken & Cheese
I got nothin'.
4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts (Mine generally run rather large, so I cut them in half and then they're the size of normal chicken breasts; if yours are small, use more.)
8 slices Swiss cheese
1 can cream of chicken soup
½ c. skim milk
¼ c. reduced-fat sour cream
1 ½ c. herb stuffing mix
¼ c. melted butter
Mushrooms (optional, but I really love mushrooms!)
Place chicken in buttered 9"x13" baking dish; top with slices of cheese. Mix soup, milk and sour cream (and mushrooms, if using) together and pour over chicken/cheese. Top with stuffing and pour melted butter on top. Cover with foil and bake at 350F for 30 minutes; uncover and bake 30-40 minutes more.
Buppy's problem was that he thought this was a faster recipe than it is because he neglected to read the part about "bake 30-40 min. more after uncovering." I think he got mad at me. Not my fault Mr. I-didn't-read-the-recipe-through-before-beginning-dinner! If you've got the time, give it a try. I promise you won't be disappointed! Enjoy!
*Linking this bad boy up to Life as Mom’s Ultimate Recipe Swap for Favorite Recipes today, 2/17/11.
Here we are, Monday again. How does the weekend fly by so quickly?
Last week Buppy and I stayed on track quite well with our menus. We deviated a little during the weekend because of the snow and leftovers, but all in all, I'd consider it a success! We still have some leftovers to work on, so they'll probably be up for grabs on Wednesday & Thursday nights, but also for lunches throughout the week.
Monday: Baked chicken teriyaki, steamed broccoli [new recipe for the chicken]
Tuesday: Crustless pizza [new recipe]
Wednesday: [Bugaboo home alone, Buppy at work] Leftovers
Thursday: [Bugaboo home alone, Buppy at work] Possibly leftovers (depending on how much food we still have) or easy chicken tortilla casserole
Friday: Indian tacos
Saturday: Lunch will be leftovers, dinner will be at a friend's house for the wine/promotion partySunday: Lunch will be grilled cheese or something along those lines, dinner will be Crockpot scalloped potatoes with ham [new recipe]So there we have it. Some new recipes to try with some oldies-but-goodies thrown in. We have a lot of the ingredients needed for most of these dishes, so I'm hoping for another week of relatively low grocery spending. Now I just need to decide what to make for the wine/promo party on Saturday.
Yup, you read right folks. I tried a bloody Mary chicken recipe I found waaaaay back in the day that I've been holding on to. Once again, I have no idea where I found this puppy.
The ingredients were pretty simple and all things I had on hand, which meant no special trip to the store, which meant a happy Bugaboo. And everyone loves a happy Bugaboo! Right . . . ?
I took some chicken out of the freezer before leaving for work the day prior to making this and let it thaw all day and over night in the fridge. That night, before heading to bed, I gathered the other few ingredients I'd need so assembly'd be a snap in morning. And that's exactly what it was.
The recipe said to cook for 7-10 hours on low, and by the time I got home, it was approximately 10 hours. Damn commute time. Oh well, at least I hoped to have an awesome dinner! It suggests to serve over rice and, while I had leftover rice in the fridge from a stir fry we'd made recently, I still didn't go for it. I should have used it up; that would have been the right thing to do. But I had a different idea. I love English muffins and think they make a great bed for things like this that have a sauce or gravy, so that's what I used instead.
Bloody Mary Chicken
No credit given here since I have no idea where this came from --- sorry. Man I suck at this game.
2 whole chicken breasts
1 can cream of something soup
1 c. V-8 juice
3 cloves garlic
Dash celery seed
2 Tbsp. Worcestershire sauce
4 dashes Tabasco sauce
I also added a cap full of lemon juice because my bloody Marys have to have lemon juice in them
Put all ingredients but chicken into a crock pot and stir; add chicken and bury in the sauce. Cook on low 7-10 hours; serve over rice.
The verdict? It was actually pretty good, but it didn't really taste anything like a bloody Mary. Ten hours for the size of my chicken breasts was too long and it had started to burn around the edges. I soaked the crock pot overnight, but Buppy said he still had to scrub it 3 times! Thanks hunny! Back to the chicken --- I garnished it with some chopped green olives because they're a staple in bloody Marys (mine anyway). It was great to have something salty mixed into the sauce, and the texture was a nice addition.
The leftovers are in the fridge right now; I saved some for Buppy so he gets to judge it and let me know if he thinks it's worth making again. I think I do. While not knock-my-socks-off fabulous, it was good for the amount of time and effort that was put into it. I'll probably just doctor it up a little more next time. Give it a try and see what you think!
While a good friend of mine (who, oddly enough, I've never met) is headed to Disneyland this weekend, I'm anticipating anywhere from 12"-24" of snow. What we like to call a nor'easter. From the weather.com website: "Major nor'easter to slam mid-Atlantic." I can definitely say I'd rather be spending this weekend with De-Mc-Rita. Well, have fun for me ladycakes, and don't forget the hand sanitizer!Our storm was originally supposed to start dumping on us Friday night and into Saturday. They've now moved up the timeline and are predicting the snow to begin mid-morning tomorrow, Friday. I arrive at work "mid-morning", 10am. And according to weather.com, conditions will "deteriorate rapidly" in the afternoon. I'm thinkin', "Shitters, this is gonna suck!" But then my DOS starts telling me that she knows I have the right work ethic and that I have nothing to prove to her. Meaning I don't have to come into work tomorrow. Luckily, if I have anything that really needs to be done (which I don't), I have my sales software loaded onto our laptop at home, so I can still work from there. But it's a relatively slow week, so that's not even going to be necessary.I'd like to give a big shout out to Mo' Nature for granting me a 3-day weekend. I just hope Buppy's drive in on Saturday morning isn't too treacherous. Yikes. Stay safe everyone, and stay off the roads. Unless you're headed to Disneyland.
I feel bad. I've been a lazy, lazy girl today at work. I'm mean seriously lazy. As in, I didn't really do much productive at all. I guess the saying is true: when the cat's away, Bugaboo will dick around. Wait, what? That's not the saying? Well, you get the point.
I arrived on time for work this morning, only to find out my DOS was feeling queasy. I hope I haven't given her whatever I've been dealing with for the past 89.23 days. It felt that long anyway. She left around 10:30am or so, and soon after I went down to our restaurant to help set up lunch for a seminar group we have in house today. They were asking for menus so they wouldn't have to go out for lunch since the weather isn't really warm and fuzzy today. Our F&B director decided to whip up (in roughly half an hour!) a buffet that included chicken Marsala, steamed broccoli, wild rice and assorted desserts. What's more? He did it working with frozen product (chicken breasts), which made it all the more impressive. Our clients seemed to enjoy it, and it only made me all the more certain that we selected the right candidate to fill the F&B slot. Such a relief in my mind, as him being good at his job makes mine about 79.2% less stressful. Ahhhhhhhh. (Did you know that 64.893% of all statistics are made up?)
I was excited at the prospect of heading out to what I hear is a beautiful topiary garden in Monkton this weekend . . . and then it occurred to me: are they open? No. Silly me! They've been called "The most outstanding topiary garden in America" by The Garden Club of America. Who knew I've been so close for so long? Buppy has to work, and while I enjoy my time at home alone on the weekends that he's gone, I figure I should get out and enjoy some of what my area has to offer. I live just outside Bmore for Pete's sake! And can take the metro down into DC if I want. There are so many outstanding museums, exhibits at universities, etc. that I'm not taking advantage of, and it needs to stop. So what if I have to go alone. And if I don't want to, I'm willing to bet I can find a friend or two who'll wanna come along. This weekend though? We'll have to see if Mother Nature is kind to me; if not, I'll stay home with a good book, some recipes to try and some Real Housewives of Orange Co. reruns. But I'll now be on the lookout for more things to enjoy.
Next weekend, even though the Ladew Gardens aren't technically open yet, they'll be hosting Maple Magic. We have the wine/promotion party to attend on Saturday night in VA, but I might try to go on Sunday. Buppy and the kids will be home, but it's suggested that only ages 4+ come; C is almost 3, so I'm not sure if I'd go it alone or try to bring the whole fam along. I just haven't smelled or seen the making of maple syrup since I was a child growing up in Wisco. Ah, the memories. I'm sure it'd be a good time.
By the way, anyone have any suggestions as far as something to bring to the wine/promo party(besides the wine, obviously)? Almost everyone drinks red wine (besides Buppy), so what's a good dish that blends well with reds? Something chocolate perhaps? That might work well, especially since it's the day before I-Heart-You-Day (a.k.a Valentine's). Hmmm, De-Mc-Rita --- you got any suggestions? 'Cause I know you be a wine drinkin' gal!
Other than that party, I'm also excited for the bull roast coming up on the 27th. I've only been to one since my arrival in MD, which was almost 2 years ago. Have I really been on the east coast for 2 years!?!? Wow. Anyway, no kids allowed, so it's an awesome night of good food and great company. What more could you ask for in a night out? February is going to be a pretty great month!
So what the heck are Indian Tacos? Well, had I not been privileged enough to attend high school on the Blackfeet reservation in Montana for most of my HS years, I'd be scratchin' my head too! They're messy. They're fattening, 'cause the dough is deep fried. And they're oh-so-worth it!
They're basically a taco like you've come to know and love, except they're built on fry bread instead of on a tortilla of some sort. So . . . what's fry bread? It's basically a bread dough that you flatten into a circle and deep fry. But you have to make a hole in the middle so it cooks right and doesn't balloon up in the middle. Think of a flattened doughnut (but not sweet). Yeah . . . that's it. So you make your fry bread, then top it with all the yummy stuff you normally top your tacos with: meat, cheese, veggies, condiments --- whatever tickles that fancy of yours. Then presto: Indian Taco!
Fry Bread
4 c. all purpose flour
½ tsp. salt
1 Tbsp. baking powder
1½ c. warm water (110F/45C)
4 c. shortening for frying
Combine flour, salt and baking powder. Stir in 1 ½ c. lukewarm water. Knead until soft but not sticky. Shape dough into balls about 3 inches in diameter. Flatten into patties ½ in. thick and make a small hole in the center of each patty. Fry one at a time in 1 in. of hot shortening, turning to brown on both sides. Drain on paper towels. 12 servings.
This awesome Indian Taco photo is courtesy of De-Mc-Rita. No, I don't know exactly how she became know by that name, and I can tell you that it'll probably change within the next 24 hours. I think she's in the witness protection program. Anyway, I told her all about how fancy-fly Indian Tacos were and she whipped up a batch for her fam that very night! And guess what? They loved 'em --- yay! Since I haven't made them in a long time, I'm stealing her picture; it's ok though since I asked first. Because that's what nice girls do. She said I could use it 'cause she's jazzy like that. Thanks De-Mc-Rita!
On my way home from Atlantic City last weekend, I was determined to stop at a cafe for a delicous breakfast of eggs benedict. On the way there on Saturday afternoon, I passed countless places to stop and envisioned the yumminess I'd find at one of them the following morning. My plans all changed though as the GPS took me home a different way than it had taken me there on Saturday; I ended up coming home on the Atlantic City Expressway, which led me to the New Jersey Turnpike. What did this mean for me? All highway miles, with no cute cafes along the way. The travel plazas could only offer Starbucks, Burger King, McDonalds and the like. This was not gonna do.
